Swimmer's Ear
by Gazlover12-Canada
Summary: After going to a lake with a bunch of other countries, Arthur's ear begins to start hurting. Unfortunately he has Swimmer's ear, so now it's up to Alfred to make him feel better. UsUk


It was a very hot day in the middle of July, especially hot in New York. That was precisely why Alfred F. Jones, better known as America, had persuaded many of his friends/co workers to come with him for a nice long swim a the lake. Previously they had been stuck in a boring World Meeting right in the dead center of New York City. That certainly hadn't been any fun, especially because of the weather. It was about 94 degrees out!

The lake that Alfred brought them to wasn't anything special, but at least the water was cool and taking a refreshing dip would make everyone feel better. The countries that had come along with America were England (By force), France, Japan, China, Germany, Italy, Spain, Romano, Prussia and Canada. Nobody really knew who Canada was, but that didn't stop him from wanting to cool off in the lake!

Because they didn't have any swimwear, everyone just took off their shirts and pants, staying in their boxers. Who really cared anyway, they were all men here so there wasn't anything to hide. Japan didn't strip down to his boxers, he went in the lake with his pants on as well, but it really didn't matter because the water felt so good.

The only person who wasn't in the lake was a certain Brit. He sat on a log near the water, arms folded as he sulked. Arthur really hadn't wanted to come swimming. He just wanted to go back home where the weather was cooler and also get some paper work done so he wouldn't have to worry about it later. Sadly though, Alfred had literally dragged him to the car by force. So here he was, still dressed fully in a suit and unable to leave thanks to Alfred hiding the car keys on him.

It was growing extremely hot, so hot that sweat was trickling down Arthur's neck and back. He tried to stop himself from looking longingly at the cold refreshing water. After all, he was stubborn and was most certainly not going to jump into the lake.

"Aw, come on in the water Iggy!" Alfred called, splashing around chest deep in the water. "You'll love it! The waters really cold! Ever Kiku is swimming."

"Absolutely not!" Arthur replied, huffing and holding his chin up high. He tried not to watch the others, who seemed to be having a great time. Feliciano was trying to play Marco Polo with Ludwig and Kiku, but the latter two weren't really participating. Antonio was trying to persuade Romano to get deeper into the water but it didn't seem to be working. Gilbert and Francis were splashing each other, and there was a transparent guy with a polar bear in the water as well.

"Okay then" Alfred finally said, sighing sadly. "I guess you can just sit there while the rest of s have fun."

Arthur acted like he took those words to heart, sitting up straight and trying to distract himself by looking down at his nails. Meanwhile in the water, Alfred, Gilbert, and Francis had huddled together and were whispering quietly.

"It's totally to hot dude" Alfred was saying. "He cant just sit there the whole time!"

"Well why don't we _help _him cool off. You get my meaning right?" Gilbert said with a smirk.

"I think that's a wonderful idea. Angleterre will thank us later for getting him into the water." Francis added.

So the plan was set. Alfred waited in the water while Gilbert and Francis quietly got out of the lake. Arthur's eyes were now closed as he leaned back against the tree he had been sitting near. It was perfect, he wouldn't have the time to escape!

When Gilbert and Francis had successfully crept behind Arthur without being caught, they went into action, each grabbing hold of one of Arthur's arms. The Brit's eyes shot open.

"You bloody idiots! Let go of me!" He screamed, struggling to get out of the two strong grips. The others in the lake had ceased their activities to watch the amusing scene. Together, Francis and Gilbert hoisted Arthur into the air before flinging him towards the water with all their might.

Arthur sailed through the air for a few seconds before landing in the deeper part of the lake with a mighty splash. Because Arthur had been screaming, the cold murky water filled his mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. For a moment he struggled under the water, panicking slightly. Suddenly two strong arms wrapped around him, pulling Arthur to the surface.

"See Iggy, doesn't the water feel just great?" Alfred asked, laughing as he held the soaking wet Englishman close to his chest. Arthur coughed and spluttered, trying desperately to rid the water from his ears and nose. Everyone else was laughing now, especially Gilbert and Francis, who had now jumped back into the lake. Arthur was feeling several emotions at once. First off he felt a little relieved from the nice cool water. He also felt extremely angry at Gilbert and Francis, and also embarrassed at being thrown into the water in front of everyone.

The rest of the afternoon resulted in everyone still hanging out in the lake. Arthur stayed in as well. The water did actually feel nice, and since he was already in what was the point in getting out? His stubbornness had already been ruined so he may as well enjoy the water. Alfred had kept him close by his side, so escape would be impossible anyway.

Finally the sun was beginning to set, and the countries all needed to get back to their flights. Alfred had somehow convinced Arthur to stay at his house for a few days.

"You can finally take a nice relaxing break dude! Besides, you haven't visited me in months." The American had said. So now Arthur sat in Alfred's car, shivering slightly because the sun had disappeared. Alfred had a house just ten minutes away from the lake so it didn't take them to long to get there after saying goodbye to the others. When they got to the house Alfred gave Arthur a pair of pajamas to borrow since he didn't have any extra clothes there. He had only brought one change of daytime clothes in his world conference suit case, in case of emergencies.

He changed into the t-shirt and sweats, scowling at the large size of the clothing. The shirt, which was already slightly big on Alfred, went down to almost reach Arthur's knees. The sweat pants fit a little better, but it was still annoying. For the rest of the night Alfred and he had hung out on the couch, Alfred playing video games while Arthur read. Arthur did have to admit, it was a little relaxing to just sit and talk with Alfred.

The next day they just spent around Alfred's house. Arthur's flight wasn't due to leave now until Friday, which gave him three more days to spend with Alfred. Currently they were both watching a war movie. It was full of loud explosions, gunfire, and vulgar language. A typical American movie in Arthur's opinion. Luckily Alfred had an air conditioner so the house was actually a little cold rather than hot. Arthur sat curled up in a light blanket, only half into the movie. Alfred on the other hand was sitting cross legged, leaning forward towards the screen with wide eyes.

An hour into the movie Arthur suddenly began to feel a slight aching pain in his left ear. It didn't really bother him too much, so he decided that it would go away. It was probably nothing. He gradually began to forget about it as the sounds of the movie lulled him to sleep.

It was a little later into the afternoon when he woke up. As soon as he came to his senses, Arthur inwardly cursed. The dull ache in his ear had worsened, especially because he had been sleeping on the side with his left ear and the pressure made it feel terrible. Groggily looking around, Arthur realized that Alfred wasn't in the room. He shifted and then stood, stopping to blink at the world spun a little around him. He heard noise coming from the kitchen so he decided to go see what he was doing.

"Oh, hey Artie!" Alfred greeted upon seeing Arthur. "You fell asleep during the movie. You looked really relaxed so I decided not to wake you. I'm making lunch right now, how does chicken salad sound?"

"Wonderful" Arthur replied. "Anything is better than your fast food."

Alfred wrinkled his nose at the comment but they both sat down at the table with their sandwiches and ate. An unusual silence filled the room that had Arthur wonder idly why the American wasn't blabbering away like he usually did.

"What's the matter with your ear?" Alfred asked after awhile. Arthur startled at the question before realizing that he had unconsciously brought his hand up to hold onto his throbbing ear.

"Oh nothing" Arthur answered. "My ear had just been hurting a little but I'm sure it's nothing that wont heal itself."

"Huh" Alfred responded, furrowing his eyebrows a little. "Well if you say so...but tell me if it gets worse okay?"

Arthur nodded, taking the last bite of his sandwich before returning to the living room. Alfred and him then played a good old game of chess. Though Alfred had a reputation of being...well American, surprisingly he was great at chess. That was because Arthur had taught him to play when he was younger. After a long game of chess (Which Arthur had won!) they spent the rest of the afternoon playing other games, watching tv, and doing country paperwork.

Soon Arthur's ear began to bother him even more. The pain was sharp, especially whenever he touched his ear or accidentally put pressure on it. Not only was it hurting, but it also even itched a little. After looking in the mirror he discovered that his outer ear was red. Maybe...maybe this thing wouldn't clear up on it's own. It was beginning to get really uncomfortable.

When he came out of the bathroom, he saw Alfred sitting down on the couch doing a mad lib.

"Alfred?" Arthur asked, shifting uncomfortably.

"Yeah?" Alfred looked up, blue eyes shining with concern when he saw how uncomfortable Arthur looked.

"My ear hurts" Arthur stated, embarrassed at how childish he sounded.

"Oh" Alfred said, realization dawning on him. He stood up quickly, walking over to the Brit. "Yeah it looks kinda bad. Why don't we go see a doctor? There's a walk in clinic not too far from here, they'll be able to see you really quick."

They both went out to the car, Alfred whistling quietly as they drove. Finally they reached the hospital, which also had the walk in clinic that Alfred was talking about attached to it. Finding a parking space was pretty easy since the place didn't seem crowded.

Sitting in the small waiting room was a little annoying. Also waiting there, was a mother and her son, who had the flu by the looks of it. There was also a biker dude who whispered to Alfred and Arthur that he might have genital herpes. This caused the two nations to move a few seats away from the man. Finally Arthur's name was called so the two countries followed the nurse into the examination room.

"The doctor will be with you shortly." He told them, leaving the room and closing the door behind her. Arthur held his ear and sunk down in his chair, humiliation over whelming him. He he was in a stupid American walk in clinic all because of his stupid ear. True to the nurses word, the door opened a few minutes later and a man who looked to be in his mid forties entered. He wore a long white doctors coat and a stethoscope hung around his neck.

"Good day gentlemen" He greeted. "What seems to be the problem?"

When Arthur didn't speak, Alfred spoke for him. "It's his ear. It's been hurting him all day and stuff."

"Ah, well why don't we take a look?" The doctor suggested, going over to snap on some latex gloves. He also grabbed an otoscope (An instrument to look in the ear) before proceeded to walk over to Arthur. He gently pulled on Arthur's ear, causing the nation to wince a little. Then he looked inside, giving a small hum after a moment.

"What is it?" Alfred asked worriedly.

"It seems that Mr. Kirkland has developed otitis externa, commonly known as Swimmer's ear. Luckily it's not a very serious thing, just uncomfortable. It's nothing that some prescribed antibiotic ear drops wont cure. " The doctor explained.

"Swimmers ear?" Alfred asked. "So what, do you get that from swimming?"

"Well yes, it is commonly caused by swimming but there are also a lot of other causes. The good thing is that it's not hard to cure. I'm going to write an ear drop prescription. Now I want you to place about 5 drops into the infected eat about three times a day for a week."

"Alright" Arthur finally spoke. "Thank you doctor."

It was about an hour later when the finally got home with the medicine. Instead of taking the drops right away, Arthur tried his best to avoid it by getting ready for bed. The truth was that he really didn't want to take them. It was just really...weird to put something like drops into your ear. There was a knock on his guest bedroom door and Alfred entered, holding the ear drops.

"You should probably take some of this stuff now before bed." He said, coming over to sit down on the bed beside Arthur.

"Er...I think I'll take it tomorrow. I really don't feel like it right now." Arthur responded, shifting so that his chin rested on his knees.

"Why not?" Alfred asked with a frown. "You look like your in pain."

"Just leave it okay?" Arthur snapped. "I don't like ear drops."

"But you need them!" Alfred claimed. "Look, why don't I put them in? The doc said that having someone else do it is a lot easier. All you have to do is lay down and it'll take less than a minute."

"T-that's okay" Arthur said, backing away a little. "I just really don't feel like taking them right now."

Alfred slowly advanced on the wary Brit, the small tube of ear drops clutched in his hand.

"It'll just take a second" Alfred said reassuringly before grabbing Arthur and dragging him onto the bed before Arthur could realize what had happened. Then he began struggling as Alfred pinned him down on his side, his infected ear facing upwards.

"Alfred no!" Arthur shouted. "I don't want them!"

"It's fine Artie just relax!" Alfred said, bringing the ear drops over to Arthur's ear. Arthur was moving his head violently so it was a little hard to position the drops to get inside the ear. He needed to get Arthur to calm down. Finally deciding that this was the best time, Alfred promptly flipped Arthur over. Before the Brit could move anymore, Alfred pressed his lips to Arthur's.

Next everything happened in slow motion. Arthur's eyes widened and he stopped moving. Alfred slowly deepened the kiss when he knew that Arthur wouldn't fight back. After a few more seconds Arthur's eyes closed and he brought up his hand, tangling then in Alfred's hair.

Finally they each ran out of breath, breaking apart and gasping. Arthur was a little dazed, still looking up at the American in shock.

"W-what...was that?" He finally asked.

"Just a kiss" Alfred told him, grinning broadly. "Now will you please lay down and let me help you?"

Arthur, green eyes still wide, simply nodded and laid down. Alfred smiled, gently pulling Arthur's ear open and administrating the drops. He felt Arthur tense slightly when the first one went in and ran his fingers soothingly though the Englishman's hair. It didn't take too long for the other four to be dropped in. After waiting a few seconds to make sure they were all in, Alfred patted Arthur's back.

"All done" He announced. "Now that wasn't so bad was it?"

"I guess not" Arthur replied, face turning a little pink as he looked at Alfred again.

"So, what do you feel like doing now?" Alfred asked.

"Well...we could continue what we were doing before you gave me the drops." Arthur suggested, looking down at his hands in embarrassment.

"Okay" Alfred agreed, his smile slowly growing. With that, he once again pulled Arthur into a deep kiss. Arthur closed his eyes and went along with it. So he had swimmers ear, but maybe it was worth it...

**a/n: Hope it didn't suck too much. Feel free to leave a review. **


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